Guildford, Surrey AS/400 systems software house ASNA Ltd is taking a beta version of its RPG Visual Compiler for Windows 3.1 and Windows NT at the Common Conference in Anaheim, California later this month. Visual RPG supports existing RPG/400 code as is, but also brings RPG programming into the world of Windows for the first time. It has three main components: an icon tool box, window control editor for positioning the tools in the window, and a properties window for size, caption and colour specification. A run-time version enables RPG programs to run on a Windows-based front-end, communicating via direct data access to an AS/400 server. The server can also be NT-based. Visual RPG runs with ASNA’s DataGate and Acceler8 data management and data processing system software, which provide AS/400-like facilities for NT and AIX Unix (as used by AS/400-to-Unix migration specialist Unibol). A Unix version is on the cards, but not until next year and Unix desktop versions (including X-terminals) will only be done if the market is big enough. Next year, Visual Cobol will also appear. Visual RPG costs $500, when it emerges as a complete product, probably in September.
